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Thursday, November 29, 2007

An eagle eye pointed out that my last sentence was missing something... a number.

<< The Isles are 18-8 all-time in shootouts, and have won five of their last shootouts.>>

It's five of the last 6 shootouts, dating back to two SO wins over Toronto last February and including the two season-saving SO wins in April over the Rangers and Devils. The SO loss, as mentioned earlier, was at MSG on the night DiPietro made 56 saves.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

1. Welcome home, Fort Neverlose. The Isles finish November 6-1-1 at the Coliseum -- the first time they've won six November home games since 1987 (6-2-0) and their best November at home since 1984 (6-0-0). The Isles have 19 points in thirteen games at home this season (9-3-1) equalling their best home start since 1987-88. They haven't had a better record at home through thirteen games since winning 11 of their first 13 at home in 1984-85.

2. It's the first time the Isles have ever beaten the Senators in extra time. They've lost only once in overtime (Hossa in 2000) and this was the first shootout between the teams.

3. It's only the Islanders' third home win (and fifth overall) since 1996 against the Sens. They were 2-14-1 with four ties in their last 21 home games against Ottawa.

and a few more for the shootout...

Ricky is now 14-7 in career shootouts, stopping 69 of 91 shots. He has not allowed more than one goal on an opponent's first three shots in eighteen consecutive shootouts. It was DiPietro's first shootout since March 5, 2007, when he suffered a 2-1 loss at MSG the night that he recorded a club-record 56 saves.

Mike Sillinger had the winning goal --his first goal in three shootout attempts as an Islander. The Isles are 18-8 all-time in shootouts, and have won five of their last shootouts.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The announced attendance at tonight's Islander-Dallas game was 8,161 (just 44 people more than half-full). It is by far the smallest announced crowd of the season (11,008 vs. Tampa) and is the smallest crowd of the Nolan era. (8,269 attended an Isles-Devils game last November 2 in New Jersey; the smallest home crowd was 8,739 last Halloween)

The last time the Isles announced a smaller crowd for a home game was an announced crowd of 3,863 for the blizzard game 12/6/03 vs. Chicago --note however that that was an actual attendance as opposed to a tickets sold number.

Last Halloween's game was the lowest announced attendance since March 6, 2001. That night, 8,415 attended the Isles' 5-1 loss to Washington. Alan Hahn's story in Newsday concentrated more on the trade deadline...and one of Mike Milbury's targets: Michael Peca.

However, tonight's crowd has that number beat, so we have to move back to the Islanders' first game of the Millenium. On January 2, 2001, the announced attendance was 7,916 for an Islander 3-0 loss to the Canadiens. Jose Theodore punctuated that evening by scoring into an empty net -- the only goal ever scored by an opposing netminder.

Alan Hahn's Newsday story noted: "The holiday season is over and it seems the Islanders' season is slowly following suit. Playing before a scattered crowd that braved not inclement weather but the specter of witnessing another loss for the home team, the Islanders last night ended their seven-game homestand with a dismal 3-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in front of an announced attendance of 7,916 at Nassau Coliseum, which has become hockey purgatory.

Well, for one night the aging Coliseum was hockey heaven for Montreal goalie Jose Theodore, who scored in the final seconds to punctuate a game that seemed not to need any further punctuation.

"It can't get worse than that," Claude Lapointe said.

But it does for the Islanders and beleaguered general manager Mike Milbury, who once again heard rousing chants of "Mike Must Go!" And it did for forward Mark Parrish, who after the game scolded the few remaining fans the team has for booing the team's final touch on a 2- 5 record during the homestand.

"As much as we love the fans and want them to come out and watch us," he said, "if they're going to boo us like that, we'd appreciate it if they just stayed home, to be honest with you. That's not going to help us out all too much."

>>

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Monday, November 26, 2007

1. Mike Modano's two goals gives him 515 career, tying Pierre Turgeon for 32nd all-time. It was the 8th OT goal of his career.

2. The Isles have scored 2 or fewer goals in 9 straight games -- first time they've done that since 1997-98. The club record is 12 straight games, set by the original Islanders, and broken in the famous 9-7 win at Boston Garden. At least they avoided playing three consecutive 2-1 games for the first time in club history.

3. Dallas' win was their first on Long Island since 12-21-00. (The Isles had won the only three Coliseum tilts in that span.)

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

1. A nite for milestones as Di Pietro wins his 100th (4th goalie in Isles history: Smith 304, Resch 157, Hrudey 106) as the Isles record their 500th road win.

2. A nite for records as the Isles become the first NHL team to ever play seven consecutive one-goal games, all decided in regulation, extend their MSG point streak to six (5 wins and an OT loss) for the first time ever and stretch their record over the Rangers to 9-1-2 -- the best 12-game stretch ever against the Blueshirts, and set a record with an eighth straight win over the Devils and Rangers.

3. A night for celebrating, as the Isles have won 11 of 17 games, matching their total in 2001-02 for the most wins in the first 17 since opening 12-4-1 in 1987-88.

1. Josef Vasicek has scored the Islanders' first goal in all three games against NJ. Vasicek now has seven goals on the year (including the only two shorties that the Isles have scored) and has recorded eight of his 68 career goals against the Devils.

2. Rick DiPietro records his 13th career shutout and 99th career victory as the Isles become the final Atlantic Division opponent to blank the Devils this year (NJ has been shutout five times this season). It's the Isles first shutout against NJ since a scoreless tie (Vanbiesbrouck/Brodeur) on December 1, 2000 and the first time the Isles have beaten New Jersey by shutout since Glenn Healy blanked the Devils 7-0 on April 15, 1992. Brodeur, making his fourth NHL appearance, played the third period of that game.

3. The Isles have played six consecutive one-goal games, winning three and losing three. It's the first time in club history that . the Isles have ever played six consecutive 1-goal games. (The Isles did play 7 consecutive games in 2001 decided by one goal or less)

and a few more..

4. The Isles are taking this Hummer Metro Cup seriously -- they're now 5-0 against the Rangers and Devils this season (and have won seven straight against the two rivals counting two wins last April).

5. The last ten Islander-Devil games have been decided by either one or two goals -- the Devils won the first six games and the Isles won the last four games. Two of those games were tied in the final 2 seconds of regulation--once by each team.

6. The Isles are 3-0 vs. the Devils this season, and have won four straight over New Jersey, (dating back to last year). It's the first time that the Isles have won the first three games of a season series from New Jersey since 1985-86.

Friday, November 16, 2007

The Islanders were shorthanded six times against Pittsburgh and had only two power plays. The -4 difference equalled the worst of the season.

It also ends a streak of five straight games that the Islanders had more power plays than the opposition. The Isles had 21 power plays and were shorthanded only 10 times in the previous five games. The Isles hadn't taken advantage of the disparity, though, going 2-21 on the pp and 8-10 on the pk.

The Isles are one of four teams to have had fewer power plays than their opponents in each of the last six seasons. (Chicago, Florida and Washington are the others)

Including tonight, the Isles have had 65 pp's and been shorthanded 67 times.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

1. The Isles have played five consecutive one-goal games, winning the first three and losing the last two. This ties the club record, set seven previous times, including last season. It's only the second time that the Isles have ever played five consecutive regulation 1-goal games (previously done in 1998). (The Isles did play 7 consecutive games in 2001 decided by one goal or less)

2. The Isles outscored Pittsburgh 2-1 at full strength, but allowed a 5-on-3 and a 4-on-4 goal. The Isles have been outscored 3-0 in 4-on-4's this season.

3. Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor were scratched by the Penguins. Combined, they have played in 2,471 NHL games. Crosby and Malkin extended their point streaks to 18 and 12 games respectively. Including tonight, they have played in 276 NHL games.

...and one more for the history books

4. Crosby's assist on the winning goal was his 250th NHL point. He has 33 of those points vs the Isles --more than any other opponent. Gonchar's goal was his 14th career goal against the Islanders--more than any other opponent.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Monday, November 12, 2007

1. Chris Simon's goal was #144 of his career. His last goal came in the game that earned him his 25 game suspension -- on March 8th against the Rangers. Miro Satan earned an assist on the Simon goal, extending his point-scoring streak to 8 straight games.

2. The Flyers are now 5-2-0 in divisional play. They won only five divisional games all last season (5-20-7).

3. Marc-Andre Bergeron's ill-timed pinch contributed to Richards' winning SH goal. It capped a rough (-2) night for Bergeron, who was able to get only two of his ten shots on goal (6 blocked, 2 missed). Overall, the Flyers blocked 22 shots (6 by Kimmo Timonen).

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

The Isles noted on their website that Miro Satan is the first Isle player with three consecutive game winning goals since 1982.

The last player to do so was Bryan Trottier -- against the Penguins, Rangers and Penguins on January 21, 24 and 26, 1982.

Unlike Satan's goals, Trottier was credited with the winner in three blowouts (6-1, 6-1 and 9-2). The games were the first three of the Islanders' 15-game winning streak -- and the first three in the "career" of a certain statistician. :)

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Your stop for quick stats on the Islanders the morning after each game.

Miroslav Satan's game-winning goal STANDINGS: Following last night's 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils, the Islanders remain in third place in the Atlantic Division with 18 points after 13 games played. The Rangers are one point ahead of the Orange and Blue, but have played in four more games. The Philadelphia Flyers, the Islanders opponent on Monday, are first in the Atlantic with 20 points with 16 games played. The Islanders have played in the least amount of games in the entire NHL. Each team in the Eastern Conference has played in at least three more games.

SPECIAL TEAMS: The Islanders power play ranks third in the NHL with a 23.7 percent conversion rate. On the road, the team has been scoring at a remarkable 41.2 percent clip.The penalty kill ranks eighth in the NHL as they have been negating 84.8 percent of their opponents power plays. Last night, the Islanders did not take a single penalty against the New Jersey Devils. It was the first time that has happened since January 29, 2002 versus the Devils.

SATAN IS CLUTCH: Miroslav Satan's game-winning goal last night was his third in as many games. He is the first Islanders to do that since Bryan Trottier netted three consecutive game-winners in January of 1982. Miro is in a six-way tie for second place in the NHL with three game-winning goals. Last season, Satan only had two game-winners all season.

GETTING IN THE WAY: Brendan Witt is seventh in the NHL in blocked shots with 41. Last season he finished fifth the league with a total of 207. Everyone above him in the rankings has played in either 16 or 17 games to his 13.

I'LL TAKE IT: Mike Sillinger once again leads the Islanders with a 55.3 faceoff winning percentage. He ranks seventh in the NHL by taking 33.5 percent of the Islanders faceoffs. Last season, Sillinger ranked fourth in the NHL with a 58.8 faceoff winning percentage.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Sunday, November 11, 2007

The Isles head to Philly tomorrow night, looking to stop an ugly Monday night streak.

The Isles have lost 11 straight Monday Night games (0-8-3), dating back to a 1995 win in Pittsburgh (the 9-round shootout game).

They did defeat the Penguins last season on a Monday, but that game was a matinee. (I'm also excluding an MLK day loss to Tampa)

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

1. The Isles are 4-0-0 in November. It's the first time since 1983 that the Isles have won their first four November games (they won their first five that season). They also won their first four November games in 1976.

2. Miro Satan has the game winning goal in each of the last three games -- all one goal victories. The club record for consecutive wins all by one goal is 4, set last February. Satan, who had only two game winning goals in each of his first two seasons with the Isles, now also has a point in seven straight games.

3. The Isles are 7-2 at home. They haven't earned more points in their first nine games at home since 1984-85. They are 9-4 overall and their 18 points in 13 games is their second highest total through thirteen games in the post-Cup era.

and a few more...

4. The Isles are now 8-0 against teams that made the playoffs last season and have won all six games that they've led after 40 minutes.

5. The Isles did not take a penalty in a game for the first time since January 29 2002 (also against New Jersey)

6. The winning goal came on a 5-on-3. The Isles have scored four 5-on-3 goals this season, matching their total for all last season.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Friday, November 09, 2007

The Islanders will actually play their 13th game of the season on Saturday.

Consider this:

With Buffalo's loss on Friday night, the Islanders have played at least three fewer games than every other team in the Eastern Conference.

The Isles have played five fewer games than the Maple Leafs

The Isles have played one fewer game than Ottawa has won. (The Sens are 13-2)

The Isles have played twelve games -- the Sabres have allowed the first goal in twelve straight games.

It will be interesting to see how much this crazy schedule affects the Isles as this season goes on. Beginning Saturday, it's 22 games in 43 days before the Isles take three days off for Christmas.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Last season, the Isles finished 40-30-12 and didn't get into the playoffs until Dubie's pokecheck. Based on early season stats, 92 points may not be needed this year due to a significant drop in three point games.

As John Kreiser notes in his NHL.com column, only 15% of games have not been settled in regulation. Thus, the average NHL game awards 2.15 points. In each of the last two seasons, 281 games (nearly 23%) have reached OT so the average game in those seasons awarded 2.23 points.

There were 2,741 points awarded last year -- an average of 91.4 per team. (92 points made the playoffs in the East and 96 points in the West) At this year's pace, the average team would record 88.15 points.

Six weeks into the new season, NHL teams are doing a much better job of deciding games in the regulation 60 minutes than they have in the last two.

Through Thursday night, 227 games have been played and just 34 (15.0 percent) have gone past regulation. Fifteen of those have been settled in overtime; the other 19 went to a shootout.

That's a 33-percent decline from last season, when 51 of the first 227 games (22.5 percent) were decided after regulation, and also markedly lower than 2005-06, when 46 of the first 227 games were decided after regulation time.

The biggest drop from last season has been in the number of shootouts. Just 19 of the first 227 contests this season (8.4 percent) went to a shootout; in the same number of games last season, that number was 32 (14.1 percent). In 2005-06, the first season of the shootout, 18 of the first 227 games went to a shootout, but 28 others were decided in overtime.In each of the last two seasons, a total of 281 games have gone past regulation time. At this pace, that number this season would be 184.

This season's shooters have been slightly more successful than in the first two years of the shootout. So far this season, 41 of the 120 shooters (34.17 percent) have been successful, up from 32.76 last season and 33.64 percent in 2005-06.

One change from last season is that home teams have been more successful. Twelve of the 19 shootouts (63.2 percent) have been won by the home team; last season, home teams were 79-85 (48.1 percent).>>

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

This ridiculously strange schedule has had the Isles playing so infrequently that it almost seems like they are not in the NHL. In fact, when the Isles take to the ice on Saturday, it will be 5 weeks and 1 day (36 days) after they opened the season in Buffalo.

Only once before have the Isles taken that long to reach game 13. In 1999, the Isles took 39 games between the opener and game 13-- but that season featured eight days between games 1 and 2.

How does this compare to recent seasons? The inactivity is not an illusion. Last year, game 13 was 30 days after the opener and the season before it was 29 days. Thus, the Isles will have had six extra days off compared to last season at this point.

The days off come with a price though --they will play the final 70 games in 147 days --the shortest time to play the final 70 since the season switched to 82 games.

Put another way--the Isles season starts and end on the first Friday of October and April respectively. That's 183 days. The Isles will play on 82 of those dates and be off on 101 of them.

In the first 36 days of the season, the Isles played on 12 days and had 24 days off.

In the final 147 days, they will play on 70 days and have 77 days off. Four of those off days come during the All-Star Break, another three come around Christmas. Other than that, it's basically every other day for the next 21 weeks, beginning Saturday.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 2,920 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

1. The first place Isles have now won consecutive games that they trailed after two periods (both in regulation time). They are now 2-3-0 when trailing after 40 minutes and, going back to last January, are 7-11-1 in the last nineteen games that they've trailed after two periods.

2. Miro Satan now has 26 career goals against the Rangers in his career -- more than any other NHLer against the Rangers since Satan entered the league.

3. The Isles are now 8-1-2 in their last 11 games against the Rangers, matching the best 11-game stretches in club history (done most recently during the dynasty days).

and some more...

4. Chris Drury's pp goal was only the fourth goal of any kind that the Rangers have scored in the second period this season.

5. Is it the return of Fort Neverlose? The Isles are 6-2 at home, and have earned 12 points in their first eight home games. This equals their best home start since opening 7-1 at home in 1986.

6. The Rangers are 0-5-1 on the road. It's the first time in 55 years that the Rangers have only one point in their first six road games.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 2,920 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Sunday, November 04, 2007

1. The Isles are now 6-0 against teams that made the playoffs last season and 1-4 against teams that missed the playoffs.

2. When Trent Hunter scored in the second period, it removed the name "Dan Plante" from the answer to the question: "Who was the last Islander to score a goal for Al Arbour?"

3. As best I can determine, there is only one current NHL player who played for Arbour (prior to tonight). Derek Armstrong, now with the Kings, made his NHL debut in Arbour's 1499th game, April 15, 1994 at Florida. Four other players were active in the NHL last year: Kasparaitis, Turgeon, Green and McLennan --all but Turgeon are still active in Europe. Malakhov was also under contract last season but he did not appear in an NHL game.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 2,920 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Friday, November 02, 2007

Al Arbour returns to the Isles' bench for his 1500th game on Saturday. Here's a few facts you might not know:

1. On April 15, 1992 Arbour coached his 1438th game to set the all-time record (Previously held by Dick Irvin) This includes games with the Blues. (Saturday's game will be #1,607 for Arbour; Scott Bowman now holds the all-time record with 2,141).

2. Arbour's first game as a coach was on October 10, 1970 -- final score: St. Louis 3, Rangers 1. No player on the Islanders' current roster was born -- Guerin arrived in the world thirty days later.

3. Arbour's first game as Islander coach: October 10, 1973 -- Islanders 1, Atlanta 1. Of the current Isles, only Guerin, Sillinger and Simon were alive.

7. Last Islander to score in game coached by Al Arbour: Dan Plante -- his only playoff goal coming in his only playoff game.

8. The Islanders have been swept in the playoffs twice in their history (1986 by Washington 3-0 and 1994 by Rangers 4-0). Arbour retired after both series.

9. Mike Sillinger has played for four of the six winningest coaches in NHL history (Bowman-1244, Quinn-657, Murray-613, and Keenan 590, including six this season). Playing for Arbour - 781 will make it five of six. (Dick Irvin won 692 games before passing away 50 years ago)

10. Arbour's career record is 739-537-223 with the Islanders and 781-577-248 overall.

11. Arbour won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders after winning four as a player.

12. Arbour will extend his NHL record for most games coached, one team (currently 1499) and his 739 wins for the Isles is also an NHL record. Billy Reay is second in both categories, winning 516 of 1002 games for the Blackhawks.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

1. Tampa had won eight straight regular season games, and 11 straight including playoffs, against the Isles, dating back to March and April 2004, respectively. The last Isles win in both regular season and in playoffs against the Lightning were by the same score: 3-0.

2. Rick DiPietro recorded an assist and a shutout in the same game for the first time in his career. He earned his assist on the play that he clobbered Andy Hilbert -- he now leads Hilbert in scoring on the season (1 - 0). It was the 12th shutout and 8th assist of DiPietro's career.

3. It's the first time that DiPietro and Henrik Lundqvist have recorded shutouts on the same night; DiPietro leads Lundqvist - 12 career shutouts to 11.

and some bonuses:

4. The Isles record a shutout on Al Arbour's birthday for the third time -- the legendary coach turned 75 today. In 1977, Billy Smith and Goran Hogosta shared a 9-0 pasting of Atlanta (Hogosta played 9 minutes in his only appearance with the Isles) and in 2000 Wade Flaherty recorded the fourth and final shutout of his Islander career, blanking Florida 4-0.

5. The Isles have blanked the Lightning 10 times (club record is 11 against both Buffalo and Washington).

6. Mike Sillinger played in his 1000th NHL game -- on the same night that Ryan Smyth played in his 800th. Sillinger has played for 21 different coaches -- Arbour will make it 22.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 2,920 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", about six feet to Howie and Billy's left, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org